Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.) expressed serious concerns over the Trump Administration’s proposed funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that would create a severe funding shortfall for research institutions across California and the nation. The Senators joined the entire Democratic caucus in highlighting the major threats posed by these cuts, which threaten to undermine America’s biomedical research infrastructure and set us back generations.

The steps the Trump Administration has taken to impose a hiring freeze, communications freeze, ban on travel, and cancellation of grant review and advisory panels that are necessary to advance research would cripple research institutions nationwide, undermine progress on lifesaving scientific advancements, threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers, and cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars.

Last year, California received over $5 billion in NIH award funding, including for critical University of California and California State University projects that rely heavily on federal funding. The proposed cuts would be devastating to California universities and our global leadership in biomedical and scientific innovation.

“This change to NIH’s indirect cost rate represents an indiscriminate funding cut that will be nothing short of catastrophic for the lifesaving research that patients and families are counting on. The Administration’s new policy means that research will come to a halt, sick kids may not get the treatment they need, and clinical trials may shut down abruptly,” wrote the Senators.

“The NIH plays a critical role in our nation’s efforts to fund scientific advancements that improve health and save lives,” continued the Senators. “Our standing as a world leader in funding and producing new medical and scientific innovations has been put at risk by these recent actions from the Trump Administration. We urge you to stop playing political games with the lifesaving work of the NIH and to allow NIH research to continue uninterrupted.”

Last week, NIH announced it would set the maximum reimbursement rate for indirect costs to 15 percent — creating a serious funding shortfall for research institutions of all types across the country. This move would dismantle the biomedical research system and stifle the development of new cures for disease. It will not produce cost savings — it will just shift costs to states who cannot afford to pay the difference.

Importantly, this action by the Trump Administration is illegal, and when the Trump Administration made a similar proposal eight years ago, Congress rejected it in a bipartisan manner.

California joined 21 other states in a lawsuit against this NIH funding cut, arguing that this violates the Administrative Procedure Act because of a Congressional provision from 2018 that prevents changes to indirect cost rates. On Monday, a federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the NIH rate cut and set a hearing for February 21.

The letter was signed by the entire Senate Democratic caucus. In addition to Padilla, Schiff, and the letter lead, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the letter was also signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

A state-by-state analysis of total NIH funding, jobs supported, and economic activity supported through NIH research is available here.

Senators Padilla and Schiff have fought relentlessly against the Trump Administration’s dangerous attacks on the American health care system. Earlier this week, Padilla and Schiff demanded President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) refrain from making cuts to Medicare and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires after Musk and DOGE officials gained access to key payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). Last week, the California Senators called on Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services Dorothy Fink to end the unprecedented freeze on all external health communications and funding. After the Trump Administration paused crucial communications from federal health agencies last month, Senator Padilla joined Senator Schatz in introducing a resolution calling for uninterrupted health warning services for the American people.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Secretary Kennedy,

We write to express our serious concern with the Trump Administration’s recent decisions that threaten to undermine the nation’s biomedical research infrastructure and set us back generations. The steps the Trump Administration has taken will create a serious funding shortfall for research institutions nationwide, threaten to undermine progress on lifesaving scientific advancements, could cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars, and threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers. 

As the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, NIH plays a critical role in sustaining the research infrastructure necessary for scientific breakthroughs in cancer treatment, infectious disease prevention, and medical technology innovation, among many others. President Trump has wreaked havoc on the nation’s biomedical research system in recent weeks. In his first several days in office, President Trump imposed a hiring freeze, communications freeze, ban on travel, and cancellation of grant review and advisory panels that are necessary to advance research. While some of these efforts have been reversed, they continue to cause confusion and miscommunication among researchers and recipients of NIH funds.

Just last week, NIH announced an illegal plan to cap indirect cost rates that research institutions rely on. In capping indirect cost rates at 15 percent for NIH-funded grants, this policy would cut funding essential for conducting research, such as operating and maintaining laboratories, equipment, and research facilities. This change to NIH’s indirect cost rate represents an indiscriminate funding cut that will be nothing short of catastrophic for the lifesaving research that patients and families are counting on. The Administration’s new policy means that research will come to a halt, sick kids may not get the treatment they need, and clinical trials may shut down abruptly.

These confusing and harmful policy changes threaten patient safety. The strength of the American research enterprise – recognized as the best in the world – is built on Congress’ bipartisan commitment to supporting essential research infrastructure. This funding, which Congress has long appropriated on a bipartisan basis, fuels groundbreaking medical discoveries and cements the United States’ position as the global leader in biomedical research.

In addition to the stifling impact on discovering new cures and ripping away treatment from those who need it, changes to NIH policy and communications threaten jobs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with everyone from custodians, to research trainees, to scientists facing potential layoffs. NIH research supported more than 412,000 jobs and fueled nearly $93 billion in new economic activity in Fiscal Year 2023. Every dollar the NIH invests in research generates almost $2.50 in economic activity. These reckless policy changes not only threaten biomedical innovation and research, but also the livelihoods of thousands of workers in every state across the nation.

The Trump Administration has left researchers, universities, and health systems with great uncertainty about whether they can continue to support entire research programs and patient clinical trials across the country. Institutions and grantees nationwide are dealing with an unprecedented external communications “pause” enacted by new leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the lack of transparency regarding the Administration’s illegal funding freeze, and the uncertainty of how new Executive Orders would be applied to their critical work. These actions resulted in NIH freezing grant reviews and cancelling advisory meetings, delaying critical funding that scientists need to continue advancing new cures and treatments. These disruptions do not just slow research – they cost lives.

The NIH plays a critical role in our nation’s efforts to fund scientific advancements that improve health and save lives. Our standing as a world leader in funding and producing new medical and scientific innovations has been put at risk by these recent actions from the Trump Administration. We urge you to stop playing political games with the lifesaving work of the NIH and to allow NIH research to continue uninterrupted.

Sincerely,

###